The above indicated parent patents and applications, the details of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto, relate to various techniques for sharpening cutting tools, such as knives, scissors and the like. These techniques generally involve the use of at least one stage and preferably multi-stage sharpening sections wherein each section includes a sharpening member having a pair of abrasive coated faces on opposite sides of the sharpening member. A guide surface which may be in the form of a magnetic guide is provided at a predetermined angle to each abrasive coated surface. The angle for the two guide surfaces of a station would be the same predetermined angle, but that angle would differ in each successive stage sharpening section. Where for example, three stages are provided the first stage acts as a presharpening section and the later two stages act as honing sections which progressively increase the angle of the cutting edge facet of the blade.
The primary emphasis in the above parent patents and applications relates to a moving sharpening member which either rotates or is orbitally driven. The sharpeners made in accordance with the parent patents and applications have been extremely successful in producing very sharp edges where commercial sharpeners have practiced the inventions of the parent patents and applications.
Despite the effectiveness of the sharpeners made in accordance with the above parent patents and applications it would also be desirable if a manual portable sharpener could be provided for use, for example, in remote areas where there is no electricity to drive the sharpening members.